UPDATE: Possible suicide victim was Hollywood makeup artist

Jogger spotted body on front porch of Valencia home

Friends and family approach a home where a man was found dead on the front porch on the 25000 block of Bellis Drive in Valencia on Monday. (Jonathan Pobre/The Signal)

A Hollywood makeup artist who worked on TV series including “ER,” “Charmed” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” shot himself Monday on the front porch of the home he rented in Valencia.

Bret Thomas Mardock, known as Alyssa Milano’s personal makeup artist, stunned his wife and neighbors when he took his own life early Monday morning, friends and officials said. He was 41.

“We won’t have a cause of death until an autopsy is done,” said Ed Winter, assistant chief of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner. A final determination of suicide cannot be made until a cause of death is determined.

Mardock’s body was found by his wife, Samantha, according to Patricia Kirchmann, owner of the house, who spoke with investigators.

At least two neighbors told The Signal Monday they heard a gunshot in the morning. Initial reports put the shooting at 8:30 a.m.

“One of the neighbors was jogging home when he saw the body,” said Kirchmann. “He heard the gunshot ... he called police.”

Mardock and his wife moved into the two-story home on the quiet cul-de-sac in the Summit area of Valencia about 18 months ago, she said.

“I’m so sad he couldn’t help himself,” said Kirchmann, who was told by neighbors and investigators that Mardock’s wife was one of the first to discover his body.

“He was very nice to us, very nice to our kids,” she said. “He was working with Alyssa Milano and had been working with her for 20 years.”

Mardock just finished work on the movie “The Details” starring Tobey Maguire.

Despite neighbors on Bellis Drive reporting they saw him “at home a lot,” Mardock has a long list of TV credits including the long-running TV show “Charmed,” starring Milano.

Mardock. listed in film industry databases as Milano’s personal makeup artist, worked on shows such as “Melrose Place,” “Saving Grace,” “Prison Break” and “Southland.”

Although most of his makeup work was in TV, he did makeup for films such as “The Muppets” and “The Flintstones Viva Rock Vegas.”

Detectives with the Homicide Bureau of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department arrived at the two-story house in the 25000 block of Bellis Drive about 10:30 a.m., a sheriff’s deputy protecting the scene said.

Los Angeles County Coroner’s Department investigators were on the scene at 11 a.m.

“Apparently, his wife found him and called police,” said one resident who did not want to be identified.

Deputies circled the house with yellow police tape and then used the tape to block access to Bellis from West Kirstengary Way.